The MP for Cape Spear says while the federal government is doing what it can to ease the pain, the rising cost of fuel is something beyond Ottawa’s control.

Tom Osborne says Canadians are paying less at the pumps than they would have without the federal government’s intervention.

Gas prices have jumped by 60 cents a litre in the last twelve months, while diesel has increased by $1.20 a litre over that same period of time .

Osborne notes that fuel prices in the European Union are even more expensive than here in Canada, but Ottawa’s measures only go so far.

“The global cost of fuel has been impacted by global pressures. That’s something we can’t control, those global pressures. We didn’t start the conflict in Hormuz. What we can control is eliminating the excise tax and the carbon tax that is on fuel. Without eliminating those, the cost of fuel would be 28 cents higher,” he told reporters.

“It doesn’t make up for the full cost of fuel. We understand that.”